Oriental giant squirrel

Oriental giant squirrels are very large tree squirrels from the genus Ratufa in the subfamily Ratufinae. They are a distinctive element of the fauna of south and southeast Asia.

There are four living species of oriental giant squirrels:

• Cream-coloured giant squirrel, Ratufa affinis
• Black giant squirrel, Ratufa bicolor
• Indian giant squirrel, Ratufa indica
• Grizzled giant squirrel, Ratufa macroura

In prehistoric times this lineage was more widespread. For example, animals very similar to Ratufa and possibly belonging to this genus - at least belonging to the Ratufinae - were part of the early Langhian (Middle Miocene, some 16-15.2 million years ago) Hambach fauna of Germany.^[1]

Footnotes

References

• Gee, Carole T.; Sander, P. Martin & Petzelberger, Bianka E.M. (2003): A Miocene rodent nut cache in coastal dunes of the Lower Rhine Embayment, Germany. Palaeontology 46(6): 1133-1149. doi:10.1046/j.0031-0239.2003.00337.x (HTML abstract)